The Power of Love

"One of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites - polar opposites - so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and power with a denial of love.

What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love."

From: Address to the Tenth Anniversary Convention of the SCLC in Atlanta on August 16, 1967 by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sums up for me the way that I feel about many things that are going on in the larger church community, especially around the issue of liberation for queer people of faith. Honestly, despite the challenges I and many other LGBT people of faith have had to face, I feel incredibly honored and humbled to be part of a movement that I am convinced at its best embodies exactly what Dr. King is talking about here.

Although it's been a hard journey of coming to accept myself as I am and realizing that God truly loves me, it's also been incredibly liberating to know that it's okay to be who I am and that I'm part of a larger movement that's seeking justice for others in ways that are both powerful and loving. In fact I must say that I really don't know if there's a deeper and more meaningful joy in this life than knowing that you're part of a community of people who are all working together for the good of others -- to promote both justice and to do so in ways that are powerful precisely because they are rooted in love. Communities like that are always opposed and oppressed -- that's one of the lessons we learn from Dr. King, Gandhi, and so many others. And yet in a way it's such a blessing -- feeling like you're part of something that's really promoting human liberation in the best possible sense.

Of course neither the larger LGBT community nor smaller communities of faith that are welcoming of queer people are perfect in themselves. Moreover, there are so many other issues of justice and peace that need our attention, too. And yet, there are times and moments for me at least when it really hits me how blessed and fortunate I am -- to be witnessing in my own lifetime the coming day of justice and new beginnings for LGBT people in churches and communities of faith; to be seeing how queer people of faith are rising up, claiming our inheritance as daughters and sons of God and starting to work together for justice and the freedom to love and be loved for all God's people.

May God send abundant blessings of the Spirit into all of our hearts now and always, encouraging us with hope for the future and inspiring us to work for justice, love, and peace in our world.

Peace,
P. Chuck